Squirrel causes Martinez power outage

About 8,000 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers in Martinez lost power this morning after a squirrel tampered with electrical lines, a company spokesman said.

The customers lost power at about 8 a.m. after the squirrel came into contact with electrical lines and they were short-circuited, PG&E spokeswoman Tamar Sarkissian said.

Upon contact, the squirrel was electrocuted.

"It happens on occasion," Sarkissian said. "We have some different insulators that can protect animals and we put those up in areas that have a lot of wildlife, in this particular place there was not a lot of insulation."